The Judgment of Paris

This is the earliest painting by Rubens in the National Gallery, from the years around 1600, when he was in his early twenties. It was made either just before he left Antwerp for Italy or soon after he arrived. The composition comes from a design by Raphael, which he could have known in Antwerp from an engraving, and the plump children in the sky resemble those of his teacher, Otto van Veen. Paris, naked with his back to us, hands the apple to Venus as the children lower a wreath onto her head, while Juno, her face turning furious, reaches out as if to intervene. Traces of earlier paint show that he changed his mind: Paris first held his crook with his arm bent. At the edge, a water nymph beside a river god ignores the whole contest and looks straight out at us.